Sweet Dreams and Old Nightmares
by DarkWarlord
Summary: When she was just a child, Carmelita's father was bruatally murdered by one of the top assassins in the world. Now years later the same assassin has been hired to take care of Carmelita too. Can Carmelita take down this criminal before he takes her life?
1. Part 1

Hey everyone! It feels like its been forever since I posted anything on I'm back and I hope you like my latest story .

Disclaimer: I don't own Sly Cooper or any of the characters appearing in this story they are the copyrighted property of sucker punch productions, except Darkk Agent, please don't use him without my permission. But who cares about the political stuff, on with the story!

Hey, the story is down there…

Chapter 1:

Sweet Dreams

She ran hard, she could hear her heart throbbing in her chest, and her labored breath came in steady practiced bursts as sweat began to form on her brow. Carmelita Fox gripped her shock pistol tightly in both hands as the heavy clap of her boots rang through the night. Her eyes narrowed and jaw set in determination, she wasn't about to let him get away. She grinned triumphantly, this time would be different.

_I'll get you this time Sly Cooper._

She rounded the corner and stopped dead in her tracks, her breath catching in her throat. In the middle of the long corridor there was a masked man pointing a gun at her. He had a broad rimmed hat and a black leather trench coat, his entire face was hidden under a black and white mask. She couldn't explain how, but she knew he was smiling.

**_Good night Inspector, pleasant dreams._**

She closed her eyes tightly and heard the tell tale suppressed swish of a silenced pistol.

Carmelita jolted up from her sleep, her fur matted down from a cold sweat. She groaned and put a hand on her forehead while she laid back down, looking at the digital clock next to her bed. The clock read 5:38am. She groaned again groggily and put her pillow over her head in a vain attempt to get back to sleep.

For what seemed like hours she tossed and turned, never quite getting in a comfortable position. She grumbled and stared at the clock, trying to mentally get the digital numbers to go backwards so she could get back to sleep. The clock stubbornly read 5:41am. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

Unable to attain sleep she just sat there for a few minutes, going over the dream in her head, she was sure she'd seen the masked somewhere before, she'd heard that swish somewhere, she just wasn't sure where. The voice was chillingly familiar, and the way he said good night inspector reminded her of something important, a memory long since past. It was with a sigh and sense of defeat that Carmelita got out of her nice warm bed and padded off to the shower with her tail dragging tiredly behind her.

She yawned widely as she opened the door and turned on the bathroom lights, she cursed quietly under her breath as her eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden brightness. After blinking several times she studied the tired looking vixen in the mirror. She sighed; her fur was ruffled and matted down in several places. "Well, nothing a nice hot shower won't fix."

She yawned widely again and let the water heat up before turning on the showerhead. She stripped down unceremoniously and hopped in the shower, the steamy water washing over her tired body. She smiled and closed her eyes, just letting the water caress her and wake her up. She began to hum as she lathered herself up with the fur shampoo and rinsed herself off, leaving her fur nice and shiny. Then she ran her hands through her hair, her hair was her pride and joy, she always took great care of it and wasted no expense when it came to getting her favorite shampoo, a little known brand from her Spanish homeland.

After washing her hair and drying off, Carmelita felt refreshed an awake, ready to take on another day of trying to bring that thief Sly Cooper, along with anyone else who broke the law to justice. A light smile appeared on her face when she thought of him, and an embarrassed and somewhat angry flush always came shortly after. 'What am I thinking? He's a criminal and I'm a cop. . . .' she stretched and wrapped the towel around her self and padded back to her room so she could get dressed and get ready for work, she had some new leads she had to look into and she wanted to get an early start, well originally she wanted to get a mid morning start but now that seemed almost wasteful, she was already up wasn't she?

As she dressed she heard the phone ring. She paused, halfway pulling up her jeans and frowning. She walked over to the phone, leaving her fly undone and glancing over at the clock, it was only 6:15. 'Who would be calling me this early?' she picked up the receiver.

"Hello? Carmelita?" The voice on the other end was gruff and had an edge of apprehension.

"Good morning chief . . . what's the problem?" Her voice betrayed no emotion, she sounded professional and collected, as usual.

"Inspector Fox, we're sending a car to pick you up, Officer Murdock should be there in a few minutes, this is important Carmelita, wait inside until he comes in. . .Please."

Carmelita frowned and zipping herself up and holding the phone against her shoulder and crossing her arms in annoyance. "Chief what's this about? This isn't like you at all. . ."

"NOT NOW INSPECTOR!" The chief roared into the phone and the line suddenly went dead as the chief slammed the phone down and Carmelita involuntarily winced, she'd worked for Barkley for years but still winced when he yelled at her.

Sighing she put the wireless phone down. Frowning deeply she walked over to the window and looked outside into the predawn morning. 'What's going on here? The Chief is never that worried. . .' she listened to the rain and leaned against the wall waiting for Officer Murdock to arrive and give her a lift to the office.

Johnny Murdock arrived without incident; he knocked tentatively on the door and a very annoyed looking inspector fox answered. "Howdy inspector." The Border collie smiled pleasantly and waved. He was the only American currently in the French office of Interpol and was one of the few officers who appreciated the good inspector for more than her good looks. He was also her latest partner.

His smile disappeared as she stared evenly at him and he scratched the back of his head and shifted uncomfortably. "You uh. . .might want a jacket. . .its sorta raining."

"Thank you Jonathan I hadn't noticed." She rolled her eyes and put her jacket on before pushing herself and the officer out the door. She used four different keys to lock her door and then used a keypad to activate her security system. She smirked at Murdock's raised eyebrow and followed him down the stairs.

"Why are you so tense?" Carmelita frowned as she watched her associate cautiously walk down in front of her, his hand hovering near the holster hidden in his grey overcoat. He looked up at her and licked his suddenly dry lips.

"Chief Barkley said he'd explain everything Carm. Let's just go. . ." He opened the door to the outside just as a bolt of lighting arced across the sky followed closely by the sound of thunder. After he made sure that Carmelita was secure he sped off down the street as only Johnny Murdock could.

Murdock ushered Carmelita into the station quickly and marched briskly to Chief Barkley's office. He was sitting at his desk biting his nails, something he only did when there was serious trouble, usually for one of his police officers. He looked up at his two finest officers and his tired face lit up.

"Thank goodness you're alright Inspector!" He was so excited that he knocked his coffee over, then cursed with his usual enthusiasm. He looked up slightly annoyed at Murdock as the canine stifled his laughter.

"Laugh it up fuzzy face. . ." The chief growled threateningly.

"Haha now that I have your permission boss." He doubled over and barked a series of loud laughs and Chief Barkley glared at him. He wiped a tear out of his eye and grinned at Carmelita, who was shaking her head still looking annoyed as she tried to suppress a smile.

"Alright kiddies, stow it." He gave them both a look that offered no argument and finally silenced Johnny Murdock's laughter. "Now shut the door and I'll explain everything." He sat heavily in his seat as Murdock shut the door after making sure that there was no one listening at the door. He nodded at Murdock and dropped a fat file on his desk. He watched Carmelita lick her lips and gingerly pick up the file.

She swallowed hard and looked at the name on the file. Ronald Zibach. She looked at the chief questioningly and he nodded. Opening the file she saw the picture of a handsome bobcat, the picture had been taken far away with black and white film, and he was wearing sunglasses, a half burned cigarette hanging from his lip. She began to quickly leaf through the file, he was a top of the line assassin, not the best in the world but definitely on the top tier. "What's the deal chief? Who's this guy after?"

Chief Barkley looked her in the eye. "You." He watched her sit down unshaken and leaf through the file some more. "Carmelita," he said in a kind almost grandfatherly voice, "This man is one of the most wanted men in the world, he's killed people, high ranking officials in twenty countries, including London, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States." She nodded again reading about what little they knew about his guy, most of the file was on his victims. "He was behind the assassination of the American Vice President three years ago?" She frowned that was troubling, she was starting to get a little worried about this guy, and even more so about who had the guts to hire him, not Mugshot, that goon always did his own dirty work, maybe General Sau, he'd escaped from prison not to long ago, but he'd want to keep a low profile.

He took a deep breath and sighed. "His professional name is Darkk Agent. He was the one who killed Inspector Adelio Pedro Fox fifteen years ago."

_Good night Inspector. . ._ Carmelita shivered violently and looked up at the chief. "M-my father?"

It all came flooding back to her, the night her father died, listening to her grandfather's stories as it rained, she was looking at one of her father's medals, shining the gold star with a red handkerchief. Her grandfather Alberto Fox, a jovial and sometimes gruff man had been a top cop in his day. And her father had been the apple of his eye.

He was telling his eager young granddaughter about a master art thief who stole the Venus de Catlo, and was just getting to the good part when her father's spare radio came to life. Alberto had picked it up and they both heard the frantic voice of Adelio, he was breathing hard, and firing his weapon calling for back up, 'Claude is dead, he-he's dead!' Maria, the operator at the station had piped up, 'Adelio calm down, where are you now?' they all heard a swish and an anguished cry. Alberto looked down ashen faced and Carmelita had gripped his leg with tears streaming down her young face.

Then _he_ had spoken, his voice was young and cold, full of a young mirthless and superior laughter, 'my dear inspector, it's not like you to run away, especially from a,' his laughter sent chills down her spine, 'a punk like me, sorry about the leg by the way, it won't hurt very long so there's no need to worry.' She could hear her father's labored breaths then another swish and he yelped loudly, followed by a pained groan. 'What's that your reaching for Inspector?' there was a shuffle and a groan, 'now inspector keep pressure on that or you'll bleed to death before that back up arrives. . .ah this must be your daughter, very pretty, here you can have it back.'

She looked up at her grandfather who was staring at the radio his mouth agape before picking up the phone and calling his old friend the police chief, demanding to know where his son's back up was. But she hadn't paid much attention to that; she had listened to the radio, the cold yet seemingly compassionate voice. 'I'm very sorry Inspector, you're a nice fella, and you've got a nice family, it's a shame you pissed off the wrong people,' they heard her father gurgle on his own blood. 'shhhh shhh, be still now, yes deep breaths. Good night inspector.' They had heard Adelio spit in defiance then another suppressed shot, and then there was silence.

"Carmelita? Inspector?" she felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at Johnny. "I . . . he. . ." her shoulders began to shake and she felt a hand touch hers, the chief's hand. She took a deep breath and steeled her resolve.

"If this criminal wants me he knows- !" the window exploded in a hundred shards and Johnny Murdock tackled her to the ground to protect her. All over the building alarms sounded and bells rang, police officers ran about, making sure the building was secure. More shots sounded and then there was silence.


	2. Part 2

Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and all other characters depicted in this story are the copyrighted property of sucker punch productions, except John Murdock and Darkk Agent, please do not use them without my permission. Now that we've got that business outta the way we can continue on with the fic!

And a special thanks to Ortizi, Heiduska, Urooj, Captein Amelia, Selena Mori and Dove the Unoriginal for the advice and reviews.

Chapter 2:

Helping Hands

It was ten am in Paris and all over the city people were going about their daily lives, driving to work, going to meetings, getting coffee, or just now waking up. One such person was the infamous thief, Sly Cooper.

BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ the alarm sounded on the nightstand next to his bed which was buried beneath a heap of blankets and sheets which moved in annoyance and groaned in protest as the clock buzzed away. It was only after a several smacks from the grey paw did the buzzing cease, and a sigh emanated from the mound on the bed. After shuffling about for yet another few minutes Sly emerged from the mess of blankets and stretched, a loud yawn filling the room.

He looked around the room at all the pictures of his friends and family, and of the beautiful inspector fox. He smiled at the picture and made his way groggily to the bathroom for his morning shower. He yawned again and walked into the bathroom.

The water was turned on and he let it run for nearly a minute while he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He peeled off his clothes and hopped in to the cold water. He winced loudly as his muscles cramped up from the sudden icy burst of cold water, he was now completely awake. He stretched again leisurely before shampooing his fur.

After getting out of the shower he wrapped himself in a towel, and then he brushed his teeth with his favorite blue toothbrush. He dried himself off with his top of the line hair dryer, the _Air Blasta 3001_. After finishing he left the bathroom whistling, walking back to his room with his usual grace.

Downstairs Murray was eating a huge bowl of cereal, happily munching on the multi colored circles and toast while Bentley frowned at the television. He scratched his chin and typed furiously on his lap top.

'Earlier today Interpol headquarters was attacked, the shooter is still unknown and at large.' The camera panned over the building and showed the window which had been shot up. 'the office your seeing belongs to Chief of Police Robert Barkley, he was in a meeting with his top inspectors Carmelita Montoya Fox and Jonathan Ray Murdock when they were fired upon by a high powered long range rifle. The shooter. . ."

Bentley typed and read, taking notes and frowning deeper, on his laptop he read about the attack, he was engrossed his in work that he hadn't noticed that Sly was standing behind him watching the television in silent fury.

"Who called the hit?" Bentley nearly hit the ceiling and dropped his classes. "S-Sly, I didn't see you back there. . ." he picked up his glasses and after breathing heavily on the lenses and cleaning up the fog, put them back on his nose.

"It appears that the would be assassin used a long range rifle and took a total of fourteen shots at the Inspector," he put up his hands to calm Sly down, "She's alright, none of the shots hit her or her partner." Bentley pointed to the computer screen to show sly the red line that went from the window to the possible sniper positions. "I believe that he was on this building here." Bentley spoke in his normal nasally voice as all the lines disappeared.

"Do we know who this guy is or who hired him?" Sly looked at the TV as it showed a police assault team repel from a helicopter on the building that Bentley had pointed out.

"Unfortunately no, I've been looking around and trying to hack the Interpol computer but there isn't anything about an assassination of Inspector Fox. Right now I have my computer running diagnostics on her files to see if we can't narrow it down at all. But Sly, one thing does worry me. . ."

"What's that Bent?" This time it was Murray who asked, he had finished his food and had been listening intently. Murray didn't love Carmelita, but he knew that Sly did and he'd be heartbroken if anything happened to her.

"This guy . . . who ever he is, is either an amateur . . . or a real professional."

They all looked at the TV in silence and saw the police officers carrying some sort of sniper rifle.

Carmelita sipped from her coffee mug and held the blanket tighter around her in an attempt to stop shivering. She'd been through so much in her life, so many horrors and so many near misses, and yet here she was, Inspector Carmelita Fox, the hero of Interpol . . . scared as a child and very annoyed with her feelings.

"Hey there boss, how ya holding up?" Johnny Murdock gave her a worried look and sat down next to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She took a deep breath and stared down at her coffee. "We were at his mercy . . . he had us . . . why didn't he-?" she was interrupted by the chief. "Zibach is a two faced bastard Carmelita. He delights in toying with his victims if time allows, and he's as cold as a frog in winter. Now if you two will come with me, Major Harlaw has some information for us."

Carmelita stood up, once again the professional, in complete control. 'We're gonna get this bastard.' She thought as they walked to the conference room, the blanket and coffee lay forgotten on the bench.

She and Murdock sat down next to Barkley while Major Harlaw stood next to high powered sniper rifle, a highly customized sniper rifle. Major Anna Harlaw was a Siberian tigress with snowy white fur and dark stripes; she was very pretty and had a commanding presence. Rumor had it that she used to lead an SAS unit before she retired and joined up with Interpol.

"Inspectors, Chief, deputy chief," the major looked from one face to the next. "This is a H&K PSG-1, it's a German sniper rifle for long range use, one of the most accurate in the world. It has a custom trigger and laser scope. There is an enhanced recoil absorber making this weapon even more accurate. This is high tech equipment sir; he could have shot a fly from the other side of the city. We're easily looking at a $100,000 rifle, at least."

Her accent was heavily British and she pointed to each part of the rifle as she explained the modifications "There was also a twenty magazine clip with six shots left. Right now out theory is that he left the rifle for us to find, and disappeared from the rooftop."

Deputy Chief McCarthy spoke up; he was a black lab with a beer belly and bushy mustache, his intelligent eyes were hidden behind even bushier eyebrows. "So you're telling us that he just threw away this expensive piece of hardware? Major why would anyone do something like this."

Chief Barkley's gruff voice cut in, "He's toying with us Peter, and he's sending us a message. He has resources and he's not afraid to use them."

McCarthy nodded "Do we know who's behind the attack?"

"Ronald Zibach, aka Darkk Agent."

McCarthy's bushy eyebrows rose. "How do we know it's him?"

Chief Barkley stood up and walked to the projector and the Major took a seat. "At four o'clock this morning this package arrived for me." He pulled out a large envelope and spilled its contents. There was a picture of Carmelita, a business card, a letter and a shiny badge.

"This is his calling card," The chief held up a half black, half white business card with a large black and white D A in large script "I've had the lab run a few tests and they say it's his, and he licked the envelope shut so it's his DNA. But this is how we know for sure . . . This is Former Inspector Adelio Fox's badge."

Carmelita looked up and her eyes widened. "May I see that?" The chief nodded and handed the badge to her. She studied the heavy brass symbol with the same intensity as she had when she was only a child, gently running her fingers along the edges of the star. "It. . .It's my father's badge."

Chief Barkley watched Carmelita as she ran her fingers over the metal and paid a visit to her past. "But the greatest threat this man poses is how adept he is at escaping after he's done the deed. Ten years ago he assassinated the chief of police in Italy, not only had he done it in front of fifty officers, he slipped out after killing another ten. And in case you're not familiar with the Moscow Massacre, He killed three of their ranking officials and made their bodyguards look like fools. They lost him and he slipped out unseen."

"He enjoys toying with most of his victims, like today, he terrorizes and patronizes them, and then he kills them. He has a 94 percent success rate, putting him in the top twenty assassins world wide. But unlike most assassins he flaunts who he is, kind of like Sly Cooper, he's not afraid to show himself, but unlike Cooper we never seem to get a picture of his unmasked face."

Carmelita's ears perked upon hearing Sly's name, but she suppressed the outburst tongue lashing that she was about to give the chief realizing that would further worsen her damaged reputation. A shiver ran though her body as she thought about never seeing Sly again. She took a sip of her coffee to try and stay focused on the meeting.

Murdock spoke up now, his coat was hanging off the back of his chair and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. "Alright, now we know who is after Carmelita, now we gotta find out who hired him." He looked over to Carmelita expectantly. "Do you have to testify anytime soon?"

She shook her head. "I've put plenty of mobsters, crime lords and other assorted criminals away over the years . . . there's more than a few that would like a shot at me. . . but not many with the guts."

The deputy chief looked over at his secretary, Miss Natasha Novak, a pretty young ferret with small glasses and the best computer wiz in Interpol. "Natasha, I want you to use your computer and see if you can't find out who hired this guy."

"Sure thing boss, I'll also get Reggie and the boys on it." She got up and left the room, her laptop under her arm and her tail swaying behind her.

The chief looked to Anna Harlaw. "What can we do to tighten security around the Inspector?"

The tigress pursed her lips in thought. "I can have three teams on 24 hour surveillance, all my men, we can trust them." Carmelita stood up, still holding her father's badge.

"I'm not going to endanger other officers. From what I've heard about this madman is that he'll kill all of those teams just to get to me with out a second thought. I'm sorry Major, but I won't put your men's lives on the line for the slim chance of success."

"But Inspector . . . what are you going to do then?" The major frowned and the chief looked somewhere between fuming and furious.

"Now Carmelita I know that you have your misgivings about this but Major Harlaw's specials teams are the best in Interpol."

Carmelita shook her head and drummed her fingers on the table. "All the more reason not to risk them, we'll need them later on, we can't just throw lives away chief."

"Inspector Fox," His voice took on a no nonsense tone and he crossed his arms staring at Carmelita. "We've all had a rough morning, right now you need to do what I say, we can protect you, and you know that."

She nodded. "When Interpol offered to protect my father what did he say?"

"He laughed. At the time Zibach wasn't a world class assassin, or at least recognized as one. He thought he'd be able to take him hands down, he turned down our offer of protection, I just don't want to see you make the same mistake."

"Chief I can't do it, no I won't do it, even if these officers wanted to protect me, I don't want innocent cops to lose they're lives, most the department doesn't even like me, hell most the judicial branch doesn't like me, except for the DA, I can't ask these people to put they're lives on the line for me. Besides, I've taken down the best of the worst; I think I can take some punk in a Halloween outfit."

The chief was about to blow his top, he was tired of the arguments and counter arguments, he was setting his foot down once and for all. "INSPECTOR CARMELITA MONTOYA FOX! AS LONG AS YOU'RE AN INSPECTOR HERE AT INTERPOL-?"

He looked down and twitched as the badge came to a halt in front of him.

"I will not risk the lives of those officers . . . and if that means my resignation . . . then I will . . ." Murdock placed a hand on her shoulder which she promptly shrugged off and walked out of the conference room door, closing it quietly behind her, leaving the rest of the officers in stunned silence.


	3. Part 3

Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and all other characters depicted in this story are the copyrighted property of sucker punch productions, except John Murdock and Darkk Agent, please do not use them without my permission. Well now that we're done with that we can get on with the show!

Sorry for taking so long, I've been really busy and I've had writers block, but here it is the next chapter of Sweet Dreams and Old Nightmares. I hope you like it

Chapter 3:

Best Laid Plans

Most of Paris was asleep, in fact just about all of Paris was asleep. The local nightlife which was usually so robust was indoors; a strange calm had fallen over the city, so on this night there weren't many clubs open at five am, even in Paris. But there was at least one person still awake at this late hour. Sitting in a dark room in front of several computers and stacks of books and notes, Bentley the turtle typed furiously away at his keyboard. He scanned and analyzed the data on the screens with his bloodshot eyes, a half empty cup of hours old coffee sat near his hand. Bentley frowned as he struggled to understand who was behind the attack on Carmelita.

He'd been following leads of all sorts, talking to his sources on line all day, hours on end he'd been looking for a sign of the trail of the mysterious assassin, but had come up with very little for his efforts. But he did find one important thing, something similar had happened to a New York Police Captain a few years back, this was what he'd been looking for! He then started the impossible task of cross referencing and re-analyzing the small bits of information to uncover the identity of the killer.

Bentley leaned back in his chair, yawned loudly and stretched; he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before looking back at the screen and grinning in triumph as the image on the screen loaded. Triumph quickly turned to horror as Bentley felt his stomach knot and his mouth go dry. He couldn't help but feel that they were in over their heads, that there was no way to save the inspector, he looked at the Blurry Picture of one of the most dangerous men on the planet: The Darkk Agent.

"SLY! SLLLY!"

Sly appeared out of no where, stumbling down the stairs, wearing only a night shirt and blue boxers with yellow dots on it, his cane tightly gripped in his hands. "What! What's wrong Bentley?" He scanned the room looking for threats, upon not finding any he settled down and let his heart slow down to a normal pace.

"You scarred me out of my fur Bent. . ." He sighed and his eyes adjusted to the dim lit room before settling on the screen. "Is this the reason your wiggin out on me?"

Bentley blushed in embarrassment and worked to regain his composure. "Ye-yes Sly, this is the reason I'm 'wiggin' out! The man after Inspector Fox is The Darkk Agent! Do you know who that is?" Sly scratched his head thought about the name, it was indeed familiar.

"Wasn't he the guy who hit those Russians a few years back, I think there were two of em'."

Bentley nodded with a smile, much like a teacher pleased with his student's answer. "Yes Sly, this piece of work is the one responsible for the 'Moscow Massacre.' Where three high ranking Russians were killed from gunshot and slashing wounds. He also killed several guards' right before disappearing without a trace.

"He has warrants for his arrest in 24 Countries, including England and the United States. Sly, I think we're in over our heads here, I mean this guy isn't like any of the other villains we've gone after before, he has no known base of operations and he won't think twice about putting a bullet between our eyes! He has a 94 success rate, he's a ruthless kill-"

"Who's after Carmelita Bentley." He looked the turtle in the eyes levelly. "I won't, no I can't sit back and wait. I love her Bent. Wouldn't you do the same for Penelope?" Bentley smiled and sighed.

"Yes I would Sly. . .so what are we gonna do?" The computer beeped and they both looked over at the screen. One of Bentley's sources had come up with something.

**_Crazy8: Yo four eyes, you heard that teh specter quit bein a cop? As of this morning she's no longer part of Interpol._**

Sly stared at the screen with a mixture of sadness and disbelief, Bentley smiled and typed a return message.

_4Eyes: That's great, does that mean that the hit will be called off?_

**_Crazy8: Sorry eyes, no chance, there's no calling this dog off the hunt, she got the wrong people mad, and even if she's not a cop anymore they're after blood._**

_4Eyes: Blast, hmm thanks for the tip crazy, contact me again if you come up with anything else._

**_Crazy8: No prob eyes, take it easy and good luck_**

_Crazy8 has signed off_

Bentley rubbed his chin and thought. "Sly the Inspector is completely on her own right now, there's no one protecting her, she's a tough lady but so were alot of the people who he murdered."

"But you're cooking up a plan aren't you Bent, you got that little smirk thing that you do whenever you come up with a plan." Sly smiled, it was always good to have a genius as a partner and friend, at this rate they'd have her back in Interpol in no time.

Sitting in her comfortable arm chair former inspector Carmelita Fox sat cross legged looking through a family album, gently tracing he fingers over a picture of her and her father. She closed her eyes and sighed, a silent tear rolling down her cheek.

"Papa. . ." She closed the book slowly, the heavy cover making a loud thud as it shut. She set the book down on the ground and hugged her knees and thought. The main question wasn't about how she was going to survive; it was how she was going to catch this monster. She got up and padded over to her kitchen, bringing her Interpol mug with her to refill it with her favorite coffee, French Roast.

She sighed pleasurably at as the sweet nectar spread throughout her body. "Mm now that's really 'the stuff that dreams are made of.'" She chuckled at her Bogart impression from her favorite movie The Maltese Falcon. It was then that her keen hearing picked up a sound coming from somewhere down the hall, like someone sneaking around and knocking something over. Carmelita very calmly put the mug down and reached under the counter, wrapping her hand around the butt of a shock pistol.

Meanwhile down the hall, our ever so quiet master thief cursed under his breath. He'd planted five bugs all over the apartment so far, and he still had three more to plant, and the fact that he just stubbed his toe on the inspector's picture table, knocking over a picture of an elderly gent holding a rather large shotgun wasn't helping him. He hurriedly planted the bug on the bottom of the table and moved to the next location.

"Freeze!" The lights came on in a flash, leaving Sly slightly dazzled and Carmelita stunned. "S-Sly? What are you doing here?" She had her gun leveled at his chest and a confused look on her face.

Sly straightened up and looked at her, leaning easily on the table. "Well, good morning Carmelita, you certainly look lovely with those curlers in your-'" She cut him off immediately. "Cut that out ringtail, I asked you a question." She hopped that the sight of the gun would hide the blush rising in her cheeks.

She watched as he sighed and held out his hand, holding two small green disks with a red light on the top. "I was worried about you Carmelita . . . so I was bugging your apartment so I would know if there was anything wrong so I could come and help you if things went wrong." Carmelita smiled despite herself and lowered the gun.

"That's a funny way to show you cared Sly, but I suppose it's the thought that counts." She began to walk back towards the kitchen and looked over her shoulder to the surprised raccoon. "Well do you want some coffee or not?"

Sly followed her with an expression somewhere between suspicious and amusement. "Well this is a switch Carmelita, usually you'd be chasing after me with that shock pistol blazing." She smiled sweetly and put the gun under his chin. "Oh you mean like this?" Sly gulped and nodded.

"Yes, in fact just like that." Sly sighed in relief as she removed the gun and laughed hard as she walked into the kitchen.

Carmelita chuckled and returned the gun to its hiding place. She poured some coffee into a red and yellow mug. "Well as I'm sure you've heard I'm not an inspector at Interpol any more so I can enjoy a cup of coffee with a known felon if I really want to . . . besides it was really sweet of you to be concerned over a little thing like this."

He gaped at her as he accepted the mug. "Little thing? Carmelita this is your life we're talking about! This is no little thing . . . not to me and it shouldn't be to you. I've heard of this guy and I have a pretty good idea of what he's capable of." He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Carmelita sighed and unconsciously wrapped her tail around her waist and looked into her mug in silence and brooded over what he'd just said. The weight of his hand on her shoulder was very reassuring and brought a small smile to her face.

'_not to me_' he'd said. She looked up into his brown eyes and was about to tell her that her life did mean a lot to her when her coffee mug exploded in a hundred jagged pieces, the steaming liquid spilling everywhere. Before she knew it Sly had tackled her to the floor to shield her from the incoming bullets that were tearing her apartment to shreds.

They'd crawled over to the kitchen table and tipped it over to use as a shield. The hard wood of the table seemed to evaporate under the onslaught, a hundred holes blasted through the wood in the first few moments, splinters raining over Sly and Carmelita's heads. The lights were blasted "Stay here Carmelita, I'll be back for you!" then he rolled off, vanishing into the darkness. She watched his form disappear and panic began to grip her, for a heart failing moment she thought that he had left her, then she took a deep breath and drew her Walter PPK that she always kept in an ankle holster.

Then he'd swung through the window like some dark avenging angel, his trench coat fluttering like great wings as his slender boots crunched the glass underneath. He turned his masked face to her and chuckled, she could almost see the smile under that half black, half white mask.

She raised the gun and fired, he dodged with an unnatural grace and his leg shot out and kicked the gun from her grip, then he kicked her square in the face. She yelped and fell backwards as pain blossomed from her face, a trail of blood seeping from her nose. He stood above her, his hands at his sides; despite herself she couldn't help noticing how dramatic he looked.

"My dear Inspector, it's a pleasure to meet you. Your not an easy woman to get a hold of, when I found out that you quit Interpol I realized I couldn't just phone in an appointment, so I decided a house call was in order." The figure reached into his coat and pulled out an old 9mm semi automatic. "Now, I suppose you'd be a little young to remember this lovely little piece." His slim fingers caressed the gun gracefully and kneeled next to her, she shivered involuntarily when he knelt next to her. "This was the last gun your dear 'pa pa' fired in his distinguished, yet tragically short career." He chuckled and slowly loaded the weapon with a loud click.

"Now inspector, don't look at me like that, I was hired to kill your father and now, years later I've been hired to send you to meet him, you do miss him don't you? Good, then you should be happy to see him again." He pressed the gun to her head and grinned, his throaty chuckle causing fear to spread like wildfire through Carmelita. He suddenly frowned. "Wait a tick, you had a friend here with you- ARG!" The impact of the cane to the side of his head sent the assassin sprawling to the floor.

"Carmelita, we've got to get out of here!" He helped her to her feet, and half carried her out of the door. Instead of going out the front door, she and Sly jumped out the window to the waiting van below, they hit the van hard but they were alright, just a few bruises as they made their way into the van and sped off, they heard helicopters above the building and then Chief Barkley speaking over an intercom.

"Ronald Zibach, this is Interpol! The building is surrounded, and we have you in our scopes! Put your hands above your head and do not move!" Just then Major Harlaw and half her team came through the very same window that he himself had shot up via cables. Major Harlaw swept her gun across the room, seeking a target; the other two team members with her did the same.

"Chief this is Major Harlaw, he isn't-" gun fire to her left stole her attention and she spun on the spot the flash light on her weapon illuminating a man with two sleek blades. She watched in horror as her second in command, Sergeant Grey was slashed across the throat, his blood spattering across the wall and splattering a large arm chair. He fell to the ground gurgling, his feline hands trying to vainly stop the bleeding. Her orders were clear, if the target resists, he was to be killed. So she opened fire.

"Open fire, send in back up!" She neatly dodged one of the blades, but was tripped by a powerful kick to the back of her knee. She was left on the floor winded, a pain spreading through the back of her head; she raised her pistol and began to fire at the fast moving target.

Officer Jacques Mala moved back quickly, his equine hooves echoing loudly while trying to shoot the agile bobcat with his shotgun, it fired loudly and he knew he had hit him at least twice dead on. When he was too close to fire he swung the heavy weapon with the intention of bludgeoning the villain. "Major, he's got some kind of body armor-aarg!" He fell to the ground heavily, a sharp pain blossoming from his chest. He looked down with shock to see the hilt of a sword sticking out of his chest, he wondered idly why it had gotten so cold, and then everything went black.

"You bastard!" Her gun rang out as shot after shot hit him, Mala was right; he was wearing some kind of hi-tech body armor, the bullets weren't even phasing him. Several more officers were repelling down the cables to support the strike team. They barely set their feet down. In a flash Agent had cut their cords and knocked them out the window by jumping up and grabbing the curtain rod, swinging back and landing powerful kicks to their chests, sending them down to the street below screaming.

Harlaw struggled to her feet and drew her combat knife. She lunged at Agent who deflected the blade with his own; she brought her knee up to his groin but was blocked. He sunk his blade deep into her leg. She bit her lip and swung with her right; he caught her by the arm and broke it with a flick of his wrist, her knife falling to the ground with a clatter. She cried out as she was knocked down to the floor again, her blood pooling around her leg.

"My, my, my. That was a well executed plan Miss," he leaned down and looked at her name tag. "Harlaw, very good indeed, you have my compliments. But I have to be on my way now, my prey has managed to slip off and I do believe I hear that back up coming up the stairs. Not bad, not bad at all."

He looked down at his watch and chuckled. "Very efficient, it hasn't even been a minute yet and the troops are about to bust down the door." Be pulled the blade out of her leg and placed her good hand on the wound. "Now be sure to keep pressure on that, I nicked an artery I think, I'm sure your medics can patch yup up before you bleed to death. Toodleoo Major. I have a fox to catch."

And then he was gone, in less than 60 seconds, more than half of her personal team were dead or in critical care, out of the three officers that had fallen out the window, only Rick Hart was still alive, and he was in a coma and presumed paralyzed from the waist down. The cavalry arrived only seconds after he left, he jumped out of the window and was lost in the alleys of Pairs. Major Harlaw was found shivering and whimpering in pain on the floor in a pool of her own blood, nearly unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey there everybody, I just wanna say I'm really sorry for taking so long, I've been really busy with school, last month I hardly had any free time and that was dedicated to catching up on sleep. This month is much better though and I hope you all enjoy the story, I've made a few changes over the last few chapters and fixed some of the mistakes and such. I hope you like it, and if you have any suggestions or gripes give a review, they let me know what I need to work on and they inspire me to get things done faster.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sly Cooper or any other character's trademarked by Sucker Punch Productions, But I do own Darkk Agent, so please don't use him without my permission, it makes him rather cranky and such. But other than that little bit of business please enjoy the fiction.

Chapter 4

Breaking All the Protocols

The Blue paneled van drove through the Paris streets, driving just above the speed limit to avoid suspicion. The hippo behind the wheel checked his mirror periodically to see if they were being followed. He licked his lips and spared the three individuals in the back a quick glance. "I don't think anybody's following us Sly, seems pretty quiet."

Sly nodded to Murray as he wrapped a bandage around a cut on Carmelita's head. "Ok Murray lets be safe and take the long route home."

"You got it Sly!" Murray continued to drive at a reasonable pace, taking many odd turns and turning off the lights for some periods to lose anyone who was tailing them. Murray then turned his attention to the road. Bentley handed Carmelita a cup of coffee in a travel mug. "Here you go Inspector Fox, are you feeling alright?"

Carmelita held an ice pack to her nose and sipped the coffee gratefully; she smiled as she recognized the French Roast. "Yes I'm fine Bentley," She winced as she shifted positions, she was sure she had a bad bruise on her back, and possibly her shoulder, she didn't even remember getting hit in the shoulder. Almost as if he could read her mind, Sly smiled and put an ice pack on her shoulder. Despite herself she found herself blushing at the gesture and uttered a small thank you.

"Its my pleasure Carmelita, just relax, your safe now." She sighed and looked down at the floor of the van as it drove along. "It was a trap."

They all looked at her with raised eyebrows. "My quitting Interpol was the bait, we had three strike teams that would infiltrate at the moment he entered the apartment. We leaked that I had quit and that I would be at my apartment all night.

They drove for about an hour until they were out of the city and passed several farms. Murray stopped in front of an old manor and waited for the loud creak of the wrought iron gate to open. Carmelita noted that it didn't look like the door should open at all, and shook her head, realizing she'd pasted the old place at least a hundred times driving in the country and back to the city. After the gate opened fully, Murray drove the van up the long driveway and ended up near the bushes.

Sly helped Carmelita out of the van, not that she needed it but he was ever the gentleman, and it got a satisfying blush out of the beautiful vixen. Bentley's wheel chair slid down the ramp and he rolled just behind Sly and Carmelita. Carmelita looked back and glanced at Murray hiding the van with some camouflage netting.

"Don't you worry inspector, you'll be safe here with us." Bentley lifted a rock and opened it, then entered a code on a hidden touch pad, opening the door too their hideout. "We have better security than most museums."

She smiled lightly. "Well I guess you would know Bentley, being a genius."

Bentley blushed and opened the door as quickly as he could, "Um, after you inspector, ya know, ladies first and all that." She smiled at him and walked into the old manor, Bentley followed her and Murray shortly after. Sly stayed behind for a few moments and surveyed the area to see if anyone was watching them; it seemed that for at least for now, they were safe.

Johnny Murdock frowned and crouched over one of the many broken or discarded weapons strewn across the floor. It was an old Interpol issue pistol. "Hello . . . what do we have here?" He took it in his latex gloved hand and carefully put it in a clear plastic evidence bag after jotting down the serial number on his notepad. Using his issued cell phone he called headquarters and spoke with the computer team.

"I need you to run the following serial through the firearms database, 977-04158-091." Murdock licked his lips as the feminine voice on the other end identified the weapon. "It's an older firearm, Interpol issue, 1987 to Inspector Adelio Pedro Fox. Wow what's that doing there?"

Murdock looked down at the baggie and knew exactly why it was in this apartment. "Thanks Maggie, I'll call if I need anything else." He shut the cell phone and put it away in his pocket."

On the other side of the room the forensics team worked away at the scene, taking pictures of and measuring the blood splatters and chalk outlines of the fallen officers. So far they were able to piece together most of the scene the way it happened, but were mercilessly unable to find any helpful clues or leads to find the assassin.

The chief surveyed the carnage from the doorway and sighed, his face pale and haggard; obviously he'd not had any sleep the previous night. He scratched the back of his head with his shoulders slumped and walks out of the room, his footsteps echoing hollowly through the damaged apartment, he knew that the mayor wanted an update as did the American CIA who wanted Zibach off the streets and behind bars, or in a shallow unnamed grave.

Worst of all he didn't know what he was going to tell them, he'd lost his best team and let the assassin slip right through his fingers. Not to mention that Cooper had run off with inspector Fox, leading several detectives to believe that he was behind the whole mess, that is before Murdock pointed out that the thief had saved her life. The press was going to crucify him, but more than that, it turned his stomach to think what might be happening to the inspector.

Murdock watched the chief leave and scribbled a note on his pad to talk to him later. The pen tumbled out of his hand and Murdock had to bend over to pick it up. That's when his eye caught sight of a small box underneath a table with many pictures on it. He frowned and walked over to the table and carefully examined the device.

After several moments he called one of the forensic boys over to help him out. "What is this?" The scientist, a black panther laid down on his back to get a better look at it, and studied it for about twenty seconds. "That is a wireless microphone and transmitter, its a bug." Murdock nodded and took out another bag. "Is it safe to remove?"

The panther nodded. "It doesn't appear to be booby trapped, so yea we can safely remove it." He took out a flat head screwdriver and pried it off cautiously so he wouldn't damage it. Murdock took it and placed it in the bag. "Can you guys drop these off at the lab, I've gotta see if Major Harlaw is able to give a statement about . . . all this."

The panther got up and took the bags from Murdock. "No problem Inspector. Tell her the boys and girls at the crime lab send their regards." Murdock smiled, "You got it."

The drive to the hospital was quiet, except for the radio announcer who was insulting Interpol's 'incompetence.'

"Get this ladies and gentlemen, not only did they lose one of the world's most wanted assassins, they had Sly Cooper right there in the apartment! How in the name of all that's holy do you let two top priority cases like those just slip through your fingers. Unfortunately a top SWAT team was also put out of action, our prayers go out to their families, and we here at FNN hope that Chief Barkley will step down for someone who knows what their doi-"

Disgusted Murdock switched the radio off; he couldn't believe that they were using this to go after the chief. He sighed, it sure would be nice to get some good press for a change, maybe catch a real criminal once in awhile. Not that anyone cared that crime was down more than 30 since the chief got his position.

The rest of the drive to the hospital was done in silence, Murdock brooding silently over the turn of events; he was worried about his partner. He had always suspected that she had a thing for Cooper, in fact on the few occasions that Johnny had met him he thought he was a delightful fellow to chase, an old fashioned thief, with a sac no less! Johnny also remembered how Cooper had saved his furry butt when the plank he was chasing him across suddenly broke. He was sure the inspector wasn't in danger from the thief and his gang, 'But can they protect her from what 3 crack Swat Teams couldn't?

He gripped the wheel and pushed his thoughts aside for now, he was at the hospital and he had work to do.

"Welcome to Paris General Hospital, how can I help you?" Murdock flashed his badge to the perky tigress behind the counter. "I'm here to take Anna Harlaw's statement."

The tigress shifted nervously behind the desk. "Ah, yes Miss Harlaw can't see any visitors, doctor's order-!" Murdock smiled sweetly at her and picked her clipboard right out of her hands. He took a moment to flip through and find the room number before giving it back to the feline.

"Thank you miss, I'm off to 319." He whistled and wagged his tail as he went to the elevators.

Lying in her bed, attached to monitors and an IV, Anna Harlaw counted the 240 ceiling tiles yet again. That cook Doctor wouldn't let her know about her surviving team members, hell he wouldn't let her talk to her superiors or anything, and they needed to know what she saw, how he took out her entire team, an A class Crack Team. . . with relative ease. Her friend was in grave danger and she was stuck here without a line to the outside.

She sighed and pressed the intercom next to her bed. "Bugger this I want to talk to my boss, now." Her ears perked up as she heard a familiar chuckle from the door way and saw the lithe form of Johnny Murdock leaning against the frame. "Wow Anna, I sure feel sorry for your nurse."

She grinned at him. "Naw love, feel sorry for that cook doctor, I've got a bedpan and there's not a thing wrong with this arm.

Murdock chuckled again and sat on the foot of her bed, patting her leg affectionately, "I'm glad you're alright Anna. Are you ready to tell me what happened?"

Down by the docks . . . the Silver Oyster to be precise

He entered the bar quietly; he gathered little attention as he made his way to the table in the back, the one that no lights seemed to be working. He sat down at the table with this back to the rest of the room, both of his hands on the table. He wore an old coat and a pair of tattered trousers; he fit perfectly in the room. Opposite him sat his contact, a black cat with a knit winter hat and a cigarette.

"Hello Ben." His voice was almost a whisper.

"Heh if it isn't my old friend Ronald Z-ouch!" Agent's hand shot across the table and grabbed the front of the cat's shirt and brought him roughly to the table. Several patrons pulled out daggers and other sharp implements, but soon put them away when Ben stopped them when he signaled them with his hand.

"Ow, that's a hell of a way to great an old friend."

"You know better than to use my name." He released him and folded his hands in front of him. "So if we can get on to business . . ."

Benjamin Raze cleared his throat and nodded, his ear twitching in anticipation. "Yes lets."

"I have a score you'll be interested in, he's not my mark so I'll let you have him."

"Who are we talking about?"

Someone who claims to be better at swiping things than even you, someone who was able to sneak up on me," He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Sly Cooper."

Ben smiled. "I owe Cooper one, so I'll do that for free, but the other information you'll need will cost you old friend. Hmmm how does eighteen thousand American dollars sound?"

"Fair enough." Agent at last smiled and downed his drink. "This is going to be fun."

"Yup, just like the London job, I hear MI6 is still smarting from the loss of their number 1. I can't wait to get my hands on the ring tail and ring his neck." The two laughed and drank before setting out on their dark purpose."


	5. Chapter 5

Hello again dear readers, I'm sorry to have taken so long, with school's long crazy hours I have little to no time to work on these stories (much to my dismay) but not to worry I'm still here and writing about our favorite heroes and their new nemesis. Please enjoy this next chapter. Please please please review, I know it can be a pain but if you enjoy the story let me know, and if you think there's something I could change, run it by me.

As always I don't own nor have any claim what so ever to Sly Cooper and the other official game characters, they are the property of Sucker Punch productions. I just ask that if you wish to use my characters to please ask for permission first. Now back to Sweet Dreams and Old Nightmares.

**Sweet Dreams and Old Nightmares**

**Chapter 5**

**Nightmare Revisited **

Ronald Zibach looked at the computer screen and took the box of cigarettes out of his pocket. He read every line of dialogue between the two people who were talking in a 'private room' trying to escape prying eyes, but they couldn't escape his. He glanced at the man sitting in the office chair in front of him, his partner for this mission, Benjamin Raze.

The cat smirked in the dark as he traced the IP address of the hacker known as Crazy8. He was taking his time, he didn't want to get caught with his hands in the cookie jar again. Several hours ago he'd tried to trace 4eyes, but found that security was too tight even for him.

"So how does this work? You trace the phone line?" Zibach lit up his cigarette and took a long drag on it.

"You know those things will kill you Ron. And boy are you behind the times, they should call you Darkk Ageing." Ben imagined he could almost feel the daggers staring at him from behind and decided it was time to stop teasing the third the most dangerous men in the world.

"Ok, I'm going to track him by his IP address, that should get us near to where he accesses his computer, then once there we can pin point him, then using his computer we can trace the crew your after."

Several more minutes passed, the two were talking about the events that led to the inspector's escape. Crazy8 told him good night and good luck then signed off. Zibach put out his cigarette as the two hackers signed off.

"So, did you get it?"

Ben twisted his chair and smiled holding out a number on a printed sheet of paper. "Oh we got it my friend."

Zibach grinned and took a long drag on his cigarette.

QUEEN'S NEW YORK, 11pm the following day:

Charlie Nidler typed on three of his keyboards, gathering information from his personal web of spies and informants while he read the text on the monitors in front of him, the news playing in the background.

He adjusted his glasses and looked at the news playing, some slick haired sheppard was ragging on the Paris police chief about letting two criminals slip through his fingers, and Inspector Fox for running off with her case. They showed clips of an interview with Barkley and he looked as if he'd aged drastically from his press release the day before.

Charlie shook his head, it was amazing how fast the press could turn on you, and he for one didn't envy the chief's position, and the wayward inspector didn't help in the slightest.

He frowned as he turned his attention to his fourth monitor, the security icon was beeping its corner. "What's this now …" He clicked on the icon and all eight of his eyes widened as his computer told him that he'd been traced the night before. "Damn it all, I gotta get out of here." His hands danced over the keyboards, signing off and shutting down his machine.

Sweat rolled down his face as he cursed himself for missing such an important update, he's been too enthralled with his information gathering. If only he had seen it sooner he could have been out of New York hours ago.

He could hear the news in the background; the announcer was giving the details of the assault on the apartment.

"Wow four officers confirmed dead, no wonder the press is having a field day with this."

Charlie turned off his main monitor, thinking he was finally in the clear, and saw two people behind him. One wore a fedora and a long trench coat, long bobcat ears sticking out from under a black and white mask, the other wore a black winter knit hat and a black sweater, a utility belt around his waist, his wide grin reminded Charlie of the Cheshire cat.

"D-darkk Agent . . ." Charlie's eyes widened as his jaw went slack. Agent took a step forward and grabbed the spider roughly by the shirt collar.

"You should have seen them after Moscow." The cat chuckled heartily, "They wanted their Police commissioner's head on a stick."

"Listen carefully because I'm only going to ask this once, and every time you don't answer correctly and make me ask again," He cocked his head and his eyes narrowed, his face merely centimeters from the spider's face. "I'm going to break one of your fingers, and if I run out fingers I'll move onto limbs, and if you still insist on lying to me I'll start cutting things off, and I guarantee that they will be things you'll miss."

Agent smiled at the fear in the arachnid's eyes. "Now that we've come to an understanding, where is Sly Cooper 8?"

While Agent interrogated the super hacker, Benjamin sat down and turned the rest of the machines on. "This is a nice system you got here Craze," There was a loud snap and a cry of anguish from across the room, "now, if you'll be so kind as to provide me with the password, I might be able to keep my associate from being to rough on you."

"N-never, I won't sell out my frien-Please don-!" There was a sickening crunch as Agent broke yet another one of his limbs, he whimpered and lost control of his bladder.

"At the end of today you're not going to have any more friends, no more enemies. All there is going to be is the pain, unless you tell us whatever we want to know."

"The password is . . ."

Paris France, Cooper Safe House

Carmelita smiled as the sunlight shone through her window and landed on her face. Her eyes fluttered opened and she ran her hand along the white silk sheets of her bed, not an unpleasant way to start the day she thought.

She slowly got out of bed, swinging her legs over the side and planting her feet firmly on the floor, feeling the thick carpet between her toes. Glancing over at the clock she pulled on the red robe that Sly had left for her and made her way to the bathroom.

On her way to the bathroom she passed a door with Sly's calling card taped to the front. She knocked twice but got no answer. Upon checking the door knob she found it was unlocked and decided to take a peak inside.

She opened the door a crack and looked inside to see a lump covered by blue blankets. At first she thought that it was just a pile of blankets on his bed, but then it shifted and grunted as the shape underneath rolled over. She smiled despite herself and shook her head, he was just too cute.

'Wait . . . did I just think that?' She shook her head and quietly made her exit, quickly walking to the bathroom down the hall. She shut the door behind her and tapped her finger thoughtfully against her chin. On the rack were several towels, pink, blue, green and red. She took a wild guess at which one was meant for her.

She looked around the surprisingly clean bathroom and spotted a familiar looking bottle. She raised an eyebrow and held her favorite shampoo in her hand, wondering how in the world he had gotten his paws on this.

Looking at the bottle she realized that she hadn't actually had a chance to shower since the morning Zibach had shot up the chief's office. She smiled as she disrobed and turned on the shower, the steam already rising steadily from the shower.

Standing under the hot water she felt truly awake for the first time since the whole incident started, the rest just seemed like a bad dream, a nightmare, and now she felt awake. She smiled as she rubbed the sweet smelling shampoo in her hair, just enjoying the feeling of the warm water running down her body.

She stood there so long the water went cold, and she noticed real fast, she screamed in alarm and scrambled to turn off the water. She began to laugh lightly, shaking her head at her own stupidity, she opened the shower curtain and the door burst inwards.

Sly stood there still wearing his nightwear, wielding his cane as if looking for a threat, all he saw was Carmelita Fox, naked with a dumbfounded look on her face. He began to sputter, his eyes wide as saucers and his cane falling from his hands. "I-I-I heard you scream, t-that's the only reason I burst in like that!"

In his mind all he could think about was how this was the end, this was how he would die; Carmelita was going to skin him alive, then strangle him, and then bury him in a shallow, unmarked grave. "Oh well, at least I got this glimpse of heaven . . ." he thought to himself as he squeezed his eyes shut.

The seconds ticked by and a small sound escaped from Carmelita's mouth and Sly opened his eyes to see her covering her self and blushing fiercely, shock and fear written all over her face. Shamefully he looked down and closed the door behind him.

Downstairs Bentley was looking at his computer screen and tapping his finger against his chin thoughtfully. Murray placed some eggs and toast down next to the turtle. "Here you go Bent, has your friend come on yet?"

"Thank you Murray, the eggs look good today." He took a bite of the eggs and adjusted his glasses. "No eights hasn't been on in hours, which is odd, he's usually like clockwork."

"You don't think anything's happened to him do you Bentley?"

"I sure hope not Murray- oh look there he is." Bentley sighed a sigh of relief as the name appeared, glad that nothing had happened to his fellow hacker.

_**Crazy8: Yo four eyes, just got teh word, Agent is gonna be in Munich tomorrow meeting with his client, this could be the chance you've been waiting for**_

_4Eyes: That's great! Any idea who it is?_

_**Crazy8: No clue, but I do know that whoever he is, he'll be there at 5am at the docks**_

_4Eyes: Thanks Crazy, you're the greatest._

He signed off and grinned to the hippo next to him. "Murray, get Sly down here, we have plans to make, and very little time to make them in."

Meanwhile upstairs Sly sat on his bed looking down miserably at the floor. He just knew that she would hate him now, well more than she already did anyways, the way he saw it was he would be lucky if she came into the same room as him ever again, even if it was only to empty an AK47 into him. "Damn it." He said and leaned back into his bed, sighing audibly before hearing a knock on the door.

He sighed and readied himself to face the music. He opened the door, resigned to his fate. He smiled when he saw Murray, happy that it wasn't an enraged Carmelita with her shock pistol aimed at his head. "Oh Murray, boy am I glad it's you."

The hippo looked at him and raised his eyebrows. "Who else would it be? Other than me and Bent, it's only the inspector and I would've thought you'd be glad to see her first thing when you wake up. The irony wasn't lost of sly, nor the inspector standing in the hallway behind Murray, wearing her robe with her towel wrapped around her head.

"Oh I believe that he was very pleased to see me this morning."

Murray smiled at her and Sly looked like he was just going to die right then and there. "I'm glad to see you too inspector."

She stuck her nose in the air and sniffed. "Men." And then she walked into her room.

"Um, Sly, was it something I said?" Sly patted his shoulder and shook his head.

"Never mind Murray, it's a long story. But you look like you have something to say big guy, what's up?"

"Oh yea, Bentley says he knows where agent is going to be tomorrow, and that we need to come up with a plan to get him."

Sly grinned from ear to ear and followed his friend down the stairs.

Munich 3:23 am

Dock 09

Sly perched in the scaffolding, watching the dock through his binocucom, looking for some sign of the meeting that Bentley's informant had told them about, but so far there was nothing to see. Licking his lips he looked up to the corner of the com and looked at the clock, there was still an hour and a half left till the meeting was supposed to take place.

"Come in slippery fish, come in slippery fish." Sly rolled his eyes.

"Do we really need code names Bentley?"

"Ehm, that's wheelie hamster slippery fish."

"Yea, yea Bent, whats the deal, I haven't seen anything on my end. How's our girl doing?"

"Red Dingo is fine fish, keep your mind on the mission for once will you?"

"I'm just glad she isn't mad at me any more."

"Well once I explained that your practically asleep until you get in the shower and told her a few stories about you stumbling in on several other people she couldn't help but forgive you, she did say she was disappointed that she wasn't your first. Women don't make any sense Sly."

"Don't I know it." He said under his breath.

Sly looked and saw a man wearing a trench coat a fedora, he was tall, he was intense, he was Darkk Agent.

Sooner or later more will come!!!!

Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion of Sweet Dreams and Old Nightmares!


End file.
